If you’re an early iOS 7 beta adopter, you might want to restore iOS 6 for a number of reasons. Perhaps you just don’t like the beta experience, preferring a less changeable, buggy iPhone software. Maybe you just want to put the official iOS 7 software on your iPhone when it releases, possibly in early September. Maybe you just miss the iOS 6 version of Maps.

For whatever reason, though, it’s a fairly straightforward process; here’s how to do it.

First of all, back up your iPhone using iTunes (or iCloud, if you don’t mind the restore taking a long time). Then, download the proper ipsw file for your particular iPhone device. If you have an iPhone 5, you’ll need iOS 6.1.4. For all others, use 6.1.3. Download the GSM file if you’re on AT&T or T-Mobile, or the CDMA file if you’re on Verizon or Sprint.

You don’t need to put your iPhone into Device Firmware Update (DFU) mode, but you can if you like. To do so, simply hold down the Home and the Wake/Sleep power button for ten seconds and then let go of the Wake/Sleep button while still holding the Home button down for another eight seconds or so. When you see the “connect to iTunes” prompt, you’ll be in DFU mode.

Even if you don’t put your iPhone into DFU mode, you can connect it to iTunes via the 30 pin or Lightning cable that came with your device. Once connected, you’ll need to cancel the update process (if you use iTunes to sync).

Now, click on the name of your iPhone in the left hand panel of iTunes. Then, hold the Option key down on your iPhone and click on the Restore iPhone button. A dialog box will open; navigate to and open the ipsw file you downloaded in the step above. You may need to turn off Find My iPhone on your iOS device before iTunes will let you do this.

Now just let iTunes and your iPhone do their thing, and you should, at the end of it all, have a newly installed iOS 6 on your iPhone. Do be sure to have a good, recent backup of your iPhone data before you do all of this, of course, so you can be up and running quickly.

I’ve done this procedure a few times now, and in my experience a device with iOS 6 on it will NOT restore a backup from an iOS 7 device. So if you want to downgrade (and I don’t blame you, all that blinding white in iOS 7), be advised that you will need an iOS 6 backup to restore from.

DJBabyBuster

Why exactly would anyone want to go back to plain jane iOS6? 7 all the way.

murdocke

You can’t restore iOS 6 to an iOS 7 backup. You should know this already!

Macmaster13

You can’t restore from a backup that was made on a device with a newer software version then the one you are currently running. This has always been the case -_-

Ethel14871907

my best friend’s ex-wife makes $60 an hour on the internet. She has been laid off for seven months but last month her pay check was $17396 just working on the internet for a few hours. try these out–>F­O­X­8­6.C­O?

Lendsor

Apple(iTunes) does not let users restore an iOS 7 backup to an iPad iPhone with older iOS version but we can try a 3rd party program called Backuptrans iTunes Backup Extractor. It lets users to extract and restore data from iOS 7 iTunes backup back to an iOS 6 device or even to a new device. Restoring iOS 6 backup to iOS 7 device is also support.

jentrik

I have an iOS 6 back up to work with but I don’t know where the “option” button is. Little help? Thanks

About the author

Anchorage, Alaska-based freelance writer and editor Rob LeFebvre has contributed to various tech, gaming and iOS sites, including 148Apps, Creative Screenwriting, Shelf-Awareness, VentureBeat, and Paste Magazine. Feel free to find Rob on Twitter @roblef, and send him a cookie once in a while; he'll really appreciate it.

(sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address) | Read more posts by Rob LeFebvre.